Darlene was finding this a very interesting conversation. She had been so busy the last couple of years, grieving for her husband and her son, Johnny, both left up-time, and trying to help reinvent electrical power generation over at the power plant, that she hadn't had much time to consider what was happening in the rest of Grantville. But she was more interested in what this man thought. "What do you think?"
"About the Partow twins?"
"No. About raising the price."
"I think Herr Schmidt is right about someone starting to build sewing machines as soon as they can, but I don't see any way of stopping them from learning how to do it. Too much is public record."
"So should you raise the price?"
Johan stopped and clearly gave Darlene's question some thought. "I think Herr Schmidt is right about the price."
"Are you going to tell David that?"
"Yes."
Then Gretel came out of the kitchen and Darlene had to go back to work.
Johan was distracted all during the lunch meeting with David and the rest of the Sewing Circle. They talked about the price hike and Johan did argue that they might as well increase the price. Sarah and David were opposed. In Sarah's case, because she was starting to feel it was a bit immoral to overcharge like that. David, because he wanted the competition to wait as long as they could manage, in order to get Higgins established as the name in sewing machines. The twins didn't care.
Finally, David gave in and Sarah, pouting, was outvoted.
David noticed that every time the door to the kitchen opened, Johan would look over at it. The third time Johan looked over he kept looking, and David followed his gaze to a plump woman who looked to be about David's mom's age. Which, it seemed to David, a good enough age for a guy Johan's age to look at. David was amused, but let it pass for now. He wished Johan luck.
Darlene went back out to the lunchroom to start clearing out the steam table. She was pretty engrossed on pulling the hot pans out without burning herself.
"Can I help you with that?" a voice asked and she jerked up.
"Oh! Ah, no. That's all right. It's my job, after all. How did your meeting go?"
"Well enough. The Sewing Circle will not oppose Herr Schmidt's price increase."
That was interesting. When this man decided something like that, he could persuade the kids.
"So, how often do you have these meetings?" Darlene asked. Maybe she'd cook something special for him and those kids.
"Every few weeks, or every month. It depends on how the businesses are going. HSMC, once a month, but OPM requires more meetings. And the others, well, it depends on if they need Master David's guidance."
"That means you'll be back, then?" Darlene hoped so. This was the first time in over two years that she'd seen someone who interested her as this man did.
"I'll be back, yes."
"Who does Johan keep looking at in the lunch meetings?" Sarah Wendell asked a month later. "And why is he coming to school so often?"
"Her name is Darlene Myers. I asked one of the cafeteria workers. Her husband and son, and her house, were left up-time. She worked in the power plant," David said.
"What is someone with that sort of knowledge doing on a serving line?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know and it bothers me. Especially if Johan is interested in her." David considered. "I think I should have her checked out. Which is inconvenient as all gitout, because guess who I would normally have check her out."
"Johan. Yes, probably not a good idea this time," Sarah said. "I'll ask around."
"Thanks. I'll have Leonhard look into it from the down-timer side."
"Do you realize how silly we sound? A couple of kids looking into the background of someone Johan Kipper is interested in."
David nodded agreement, but he didn't agree, not really. He wished he'd been able to do it with some of the jerks his mom had dated up-time, and Johan was rich now. Also, in David's opinion, Johan tended to look at up-timers through rose-colored glasses.
Judy the Younger's report on Darlene Myers was pretty detailed. Born 1967, married, one child. Both left up-time, worked in the power plant and kept working there after the Ring of Fire because they needed her. But she hadn't talked to anyone about her problems; she had just worked and worked. She had trained down-timers to do her job, then quit. Which struck Judy as pretty crazy. The other stuff that Judy had learned from Darlene's brother, Allen, was that she had had a very hard time dealing with the loss of Jack and little Johnny, her up-time family, but wouldn't talk about it.
Sarah sort of agreed with Judy's assessment, but thought that Darlene's self-treatment might be the right thing for her. Just be around people, not heavy equipment, for a while.
Leonhard told David that the down-timers she worked with found her pleasant, if a bit reserved. They had been surprised when she quit at the power plant and went to work at the elementary school. They were more surprised when she said that working with all the younger children was too much. It reminded her of her lost son. So she had transferred to the high school.
"So she was hit pretty hard by the Ring of Fire," David said. It wasn't an uncommon story. The Ring of Fire had hit a lot of people hard, and sometimes the ones that it hit hardest were least willing to talk about it.
Darlene found herself talking about Jack to Johan and he told her things about his life as a boy in the Netherlands, and later as a mercenary. Somehow, they had become each other's friendly ear. So Darlene was shocked and very upset when Johan told her that he was going off to Amsterdam.
"Amsterdam? Amsterdam is under siege, and the Netherlands are a war zone. Why did that idiot David have to go and buy a bunch of guilders, anyway?"
"Master David had his reasons," Johan insisted irritatingly, but wouldn't tell her the reasons. Darlene found Johan's devotion to the kid endearing, irritating, infuriating, insane, and a little creepy-all at once. She knew why Johan felt that way; he had told her about how David treated him and how Delia Higgins had given him a share in the sewing machine company, and how David included him in OPM and the other deals he made. She knew that they had made him rich, but the way he doted on David was just wrong. And now the idiot boy was dragging him off to Amsterdam in the middle of a war. Johan had seen enough war to last a dozen lifetimes. And he didn't need to see any more, in Darlene's opinion. Not that she had any call to complain. They were barely dating yet.
"I have a letter for you, Ms. Myers," Trent Partow said.
"For me?"
"Yep. It's from Johan. It came in the pouch."
"What pouch?"
"The mission to Amsterdam is quasi-official. It doesn't exactly have diplomatic status, but they got the Cardinal-Infante's permission and the permission of the government before they left, so they have their own sealed pouches for private correspondence back here to Grantville."
"You mean Johan is like some sort of diplomat?"
"Sort of." Trent shrugged. "Brent and I are inventors. David's a mogul. Sarah's an economist. It's the Ring of Fire."
"And I am serving in a high school lunchroom."
"I know, ma'am, and, honestly, that seems a little weird. Especially considering how much you know about electronics."
Darlene had no idea what to say to that. But, thankfully, Trent didn't push it. He just gave her the letter and a wave then went on his way.
It was later that afternoon when she finally got a chance to sit down and read the letter. Johan Kipper's handwriting was better than she expected, but the down-time education system, without even typewriters, was very much about good penmanship.
Dearest Darlene,
I may be overstepping my place with that greeting and if it gives offense I apologize most profoundly. But I miss you even more than I thought I would and the shield of paper the letter provides give me courage to say what I have wanted to say since I met you. So:
My dearest Darlene,
We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday and have yet to meet the Cardinal-Infante. But I
did get to see the estate where I was born, since it is outside the city proper. It has brought back memories. Some good, but more bad. We were not well treated, though not so harshly as in some places. But I remember my sister who was, she insisted, in love with the burgher's son. Never mind. The pain of those days is old, and both my sister and her child are dust. And the burgher's son, as well. Which is a good thing, else I would be tempted to foolishness.
I always resented the way they treated us, but assumed that was because they weren't real nobles just burghers with a lot of money. Then I met real nobles in the army and they were no better. It wasn't till the Ring of Fire that I found people who seemed to me worthy of loyalty. I know that you find the way I feel about young Master David and the rest confusing, but coming back here has brought it into focus. David is what the burgher and his family should have been, but weren't. We are here not just to make money, but to save the guilder and so save the Netherlands and perhaps the rest of Europe. It's worth doing and I am pleased to be a part of it.
I also will be glad to get back to Grantville. I find that I miss our conversations. I miss your insightful questions and your friendly smile. I know the loss of your family cut you deep and being here again reminds me of how deep and slow to heal such a loss can be. I understand your need to be around people but find myself wishing that you could find a position that lets you be around people, but still lets you use more of your skills.
The letter went on to talk about how he felt about her and the world.
A couple of days later Darlene gave Trent Partow a letter to go into the pouch for Johan and asked, "Has Johan mentioned my working in the cafeteria?"
"No. Why?" Trent asked.
"Because he said pretty much the same thing you did in his letter."
"About what?"
"About why am I working in the cafeteria when I ought to be working in electronics."
Trent shrugged a very teenage shrug, and said, "It's a pretty obvious question."
"It is if you know I worked in the power plant, but why would you know that if Johan wasn't talking to you?"
"Oh." Trent looked rather embarrassed. "David had you checked out. Because, well, Johan is rich now and that means a lot down-time."
It meant a lot up-time too, Darlene knew. Not to everyone but to a lot of people. She'd read enough stories before the Ring of Fire to know that pre-nups were pretty standard among the rich and famous. Still, the whole notion that she might be a gold digger was more than a little offensive. Especially because, well, she had noticed that Johan was rich and it had had an effect. Along with the realization that he thought of her as someone who he could discuss matters of importance with, it made him seem more attractive and less threatening. She didn't figure he would have her out at the stream pounding his dirty clothes on rocks.
"I'm not sure how I would react if Johan had checked me out. But David Bartley? What the fuck business was it of his?" Darlene didn't usually curse, and especially not in front of kids, even teenagers. But suddenly she was really pissed off.
It was clear that Trent Partow didn't have a good answer to that, from his embarrassed look more than his silence. She humphed and gave him the letter anyway.
Trent thanked her and left, but that wasn't the end of it. An hour later, Brent Partow showed up. Brent looked like Trent but moved differently. He was more open and casual, less studied. "David did it because he's Johan's friend and he cares. It wasn't an insult to you, because before he checked you out, we didn't know who you were. Even if you had been a gold digger-and every single one of us has had experience with gold diggers since HSMC went public back in '31 and especially since OPM-David wouldn't have tried to buy you off or treat you like Sabrina in the movie. He would have let Johan know and decide for himself." He grinned engagingly. "I should know. That's what he's done when one of my friends turns out to be after my money. Which happens more than you might think, Ms. Myers."
"Well, it's still insulting. And it's still none of his business," Darlene said, in spite of the fact that she saw Brent's point. "And if he wanted to know something, he should have had the guts to ask me to my face."
"Maybe. All right. In that case, I have a question to ask you to your face. What are you doing slopping the high schoolers when you could be teaching down-timers how to build electrical components and gauges? Do you have any idea how important electricity is to the world?"
"Well. . you know. . the thing is. ." Darlene stopped.
Brent just waited.
"Well. ." Darlene hadn't thought about it from the point of view of the rest of the world. "I just. . I was so tired. And sick. Just sick of everything. All I could think about was Jack and Johnny. . And I didn't quit till I had trained up replacements."
Brent nodded. That had apparently been in the briefing they had gotten. "I'm sorry about your family," he said. "I was comparatively lucky. I had a lot of friends that were left up-time, but most of my family was here. I know it was worse for people who lost family. I think you ought to talk to someone about it. It's not just the opportunities for yourself that are getting lost. It's what you can do for the world, as well. Look, Ms. Myers, I know a bunch of people think of David as some sort of Scrooge or maybe J.P. Morgan or something, but the truth is that he, all of us, do this stuff because it's important. Not because it makes us rich. That's just a byproduct."
"Not a bad byproduct," Darlene said.
"I'm not complaining, true. Back up-time, I'd never have been this kind of rich. But, more importantly, I'd never have been able to build the things I've built. The washing machine has made life easier for hundreds of people-heck, probably thousands of people. The generator packages we're working on-and that's something you could help with-why, those are going to improve even more lives. And improve them more."
Darlene was intrigued in spite of herself. "What sort of generator packages?"
Brent snorted. "That's the trouble. You can't just build a generator, or a toaster, or a light bulb. The toaster and the light bulb need the generator and the generator isn't a lot of use without the toaster or the light bulb, or something to power. And then there's the question of getting the mechanical motion to run the generator."
Darlene started nodding, because this was basically what she'd been doing at the power plant, or at least part of it. "So how are you working it out?"
"Not as well as we'd like. It takes a lot of fiddling. We can't build a standard system, like the sewing machine or the washing machine. We have to fit each one to the use it's to be put to. And that makes it more expensive. We need to standardize as many of the components as we can, so they can fit into a customized system. We've been doing that one component at a time, as we develop them. Then selling them off to other companies to mass produce."
"What sort of components?"
"Well, the toaster I mentioned and an electric space heater. Small electric motors to power things like down-time-made food processors. But we also have to make fuses and switches so that the little electrical systems we put in houses and factories don't burn out because too much is plugged into them or too little. We are working on better lead-acid batteries. Well, a village just outside the Ring of Fire is doing those, but we are having to buy them by the rack. Which makes the systems more expensive, but we have to have something to balance the output of the generators."
"Have you tried gyroscopes?" Darlene couldn't help asking. She knew that up-time and down-time the power plant had used great big gyroscopes to balance power requirements with generation and keep the system from blowing.
"Now see," Brent said with an impish grin, "that's why you're needed. Your understanding of this stuff. It's not stuff that down-timers can't learn and I know you taught it to down-timers before you quit the power plant. But there are always more down-timers to learn it. And more ways to apply it. Have you considered a job at one of the research firms. . like, say, TwinloPark?"
"You're trying to recruit me?"
"Sure. Why not?"
&n
bsp; "I thought you thought I was a gold digger."
"Nope. We wanted to find out if you were a gold digger. There is a difference. And while we were looking, we found out you have knowledge we need."
"Are you sure that this isn't a way to buy me off?"
"Absolutely not!" Brent said with such overdone offended dignity that Darlene knew he was joking.
Darlene didn't accept the job offer. Not then. She liked cooking and she had learned that she liked cooking for large numbers. She didn't want to go back to a job in a lab, spending her time assembling parts and soldering itty-bitty wires.
Johan Kipper got Darlene's first letter with considerable pleasure. She hadn't objected to his heading. Instead, hers had echoed it. My dearest Johan!
Meanwhile there were products to buy, arrangements to be made. The craftsmen in Amsterdam were starved for work and the negotiations were going well. More importantly, Don Fernando's army was in real need of things like cheap sewing, clothes washing, and all sorts of other things that an army needed to keep in good repair, and Johan Kipper, as David Bartley's man, had just the sort of stuff they needed and couldn't get, or at least was a lot more expensive when done by hand than when done by machine.
The second letter from Darlene arrived within a few days of their getting permission to enter Amsterdam. Darlene wasn't pleased to learn that Young Master David had checked her out. For that matter, Johan's first reaction wasn't one of unalloyed joy. But considering how many gold diggers he had discovered going after one of his charges-even little Master Donny, Master David's younger brother. . His second reaction was to wonder what David had found.
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